


The Lives of Others

by concerningtheUFOsighting



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: 74th Hunger Games, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Original Character(s), Surveillance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25572298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/concerningtheUFOsighting/pseuds/concerningtheUFOsighting
Summary: Panem is a surveillance state with countless cogs in the machine keeping its citizens well behaved. One of those cogs is a lonely and tired worker observing the comings and goings of victors and escorts in the district 7 apartments during the 74th hunger games.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	The Lives of Others

**Author's Note:**

> The title and concept is taken from the german movie of the same name that follow a STASI surveillance agent in the DDR.
> 
> A warning: this story is from the perspective of a regular Capitol citizen that believes the propaganda. So his understanding of trauma and consent will not be particularly evolved or empathic especially when it comes to the tributes and victors. There isn't any explicit abuse or violence in this story but it is referenced.

# The Lives of Others

The sun is creeping up behind the mountains, making the skyscrapers shine like they are made of gold, slowly drowning the city’s neon lights. Tacitus Lynch is standing in front of his mirror, combing his purple striped hair in a straight and professional side parting. He makes sure every part of his white uniform is perfect.

He doesn’t really care that much about style and clothes, but you don’t make it anywhere in the Capitol unless you look presentable. Everything in the Capitol is perfection. That’s just the way it is.

Out on the streets Avox cleanup crews are sweeping confetti and erasing all signs of yesterday’s parties. He stops on his way over to the ministry to buy lunch from one of the auto-lunch stands and walks right into a young woman stumbling home from a party. She’s wearing a dress made entirely out of blue butterfly wings and Tacitus is afraid he ruined it. But she just laughs “I won! I knew that boy wouldn’t make it!” and kisses him on the cheek before disappearing behind the corner waiving for a taxi.

Tacitus is left with a few dead butterflies and an empty cup of coffee. This is the reason he’s not much of a fan of Games season. For other people it means fantastic parties, betting, amazing clothes and extravagant food. For Tacitus it means overtime and loads of chances to see other people having fun he’ll never have.

Most Capitol residents try to avoid walking past the Ministry of National Peace and Security. That tall building might look innocent, but most people don’t like to be reminded of its existence. All citizens of the Capitol are under surveillance. All homes come with microphones that record every word spoken. Those recordings are automatically analyzed by computers that recognize certain words or word combinations. When it does find any dangerous words, two agents working shifts will be assigned to that home for a year. The agents will watch the surveillance until evidence is found, or until it turns out there was no reason for concern. Tacitus has worked here for almost 10 years. He likes to think that MNPS is the only thing standing between civilization and total chaos. It’s not. But who can blame him for trying to encourage himself during his long boring hours of watching the Whitmore family; this year's project. But Tacitus won’t take the elevator to the 14th floor to his office and his monitors with the Withmores today. During games season, for weeks, sometimes months, Tacitus works at department 348, subdivision D07 at the 23th floor.

He meets one of his coworkers in the elevator. Her uniform tells him she works at D03, but he can't remember her name. Her nails are long and pulsates in different colors. He knows he's talked to her before, at that office party last year. They silently greet each other with court nods. The elevator closes it's doors and the unknown woman takes a small sip of her coffee before sharing the latest gossip. Apparently Scipio Moore of D11 was fired a few days ago for betting. He finds that pretty hard to believe, Scipio always seemed so good at his job, he was the one always getting the employee of the month award. His clothes where a little tacky, and he weren't particularly nice, but still.

* * *

At their office his partner Licinia is making a tower out of some mini cookies, and glancing at the screen every now and then.

  
On one of the monitors Johanna Mason is sleeping restlessly upstairs. She seems trapped in her own blanket; the pillows are on the floor. The other one shows Blight Larson who’s scribbling something with large childish letters on a piece of paper in front of the TV. At lot of the outlying districts don't care much for education, Blight is one of several Victor who could barely write his own name before winning and despite his escorts best efforts he's not particularly literate now either. He’s humming some depressing song to himself, while keeping an eye on the mentor games feed. Since both sevens tributes was killed the first day they are both done in mentor central and with their exit interviews. Their games feed just switches between the rest of the remaining tributes.

Licinia puts another cookie on top of her tower. Her hair is bright pink and styled in a complex and intricate hairstyle consisting of braids and pearls. Her turquoise eyes are framed by a shining pearl like eye shadow and silver eyelashes, and now completely focused on the cookie tower.

  
Tacitus taps her on the shoulder, making her jump and scramble to remove her headphones. “Don’t do that, I’ll end up with a heart attack.” “I’m sorry” says Tacitus. He’s unsure whether she’s actually annoyed or not. He’s never really sure about Licinia. Does she find him boring, or are they friends? She's so effortlessly cool, alway making him uncomfortably aware of how plain he is.

“How’s things?” he says and waves in the general direction of the monitors. Licinia looks at him strangely for a moment and for a second he feels embarrassed and realizes that he should probably have asked about her first, that’s what coworkers do. But he shakes it off and remind himself that being professional is not a bad thing.  
She hands him a tablet with a report, “Johanna had a visitor last night, there was some drinking so as expected we had a subversive incident” she says with an eye roll.

> _Nature of subversive incident: death threats against senior official and family._
> 
> Transcript:
> 
>   
>  D7 J. Mason: I saw you with that creepy guy last year.
> 
>   
>  D4 F. Odair: Creepy, that narrows it down. Do you have any more booze?
> 
>   
>  D7 J. Mason: I think Blight took it all when he went over to 11. He wanted to help them reel in some sponsors, better to be prepared for disappointment. He said I couldn’t come since I scare them all away. I remind them that they can never really trust a tribute or whatever. Like I would want to voluntarily spend time with those blood sucking idiots. But you know who I mean. The ugly fucker that always wears white gloves who looks like he’s so above everyone, like we should just be happy he’s grazing us with his presence.
> 
>   
>  D4 F. Odair: You know that fits a lot of people. Are you talking about the one with that stupid glowing hair? I think it was supposed to look like plankton. Or maybe angelfish.
> 
>   
>  D7 J. Mason: No fish brain, I’m talking about the creeper with the white eyes. Probably thinks it makes him look important. He's the head of peacekeepers. Thats who he is.
> 
> D4 F. Odair: oh, him. You weren’t the only one. The shrimp guy back home actually spit in my shrimps. That was such a downer I was really looking forward to those shrimps.
> 
> D7 J. Mason: I would have thrown the shrimps back in his face.
> 
> D4 F. Odair: I know you would. But I mean, I know how it looks on TV. And his sister was whipped that weekend for some issues with her quota, so I get it.
> 
> D7 J. Mason: That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You should have just strangled him in his sleep. Shrimp guy and his sister would have loved that.
> 
> D4 F. Odair: That’s such a good idea Johanna. You think they would go for the classic public hanging, or the more subtle, burning my house down with my family still inside?
> 
> D7 J. Mason: Are you sure you couldn’t have gotten away with it? I don’t think pillows leave marks. Or don’t you have like a poisonous turtle or a killer fish or something? You could give something like that to his kid.

After reading he sighs “death threats are such paper mills.” Licinia stretches in her chair. “Don’t worry; it happened hours ago, so I filled out all the forms after she fell asleep. Contacted everyone who needs to know. I think she crossed a line involving a child like that, his son is just 14. But you know how they are. They say things like this all the time, it's just empty talk and jokes as usual.”  
Tacitus hands back the tablet “That’s the problem; we know they don’t really mean it. But we have to fill out all those forms every single time anyway.”  
Licinia laughs and says with a shrug “well I’m not complaining. With all the overtime and report bonuses after Johanna won, I can afford a vacation this year. You should be glad you’re not with 2. Talk about boring.”

  
Tacitus actually is glad he's not with 2. At MNPS, a high risk for subversive thought and conversations means highly trusted employees. After Johanna won, 7 suddenly became one of the more dangerous districts, it was basically a promotion. She was out of control the first year after her games, then she calmed down a bit after that mudslide killed her family. But she's still a loose canon and needs close monitoring. It’s like his job is just a little more important in the grand scheme of things.

  
“I actually meant to talk to you about that” Licinia says, suddenly serious. “I sent in a District travel authorization form, and an application for vacation leave last week. And they want to interview me and Marcella later this evening for the security clearing. So I was just hoping that you could fill in for me? I know you’ll have a really long shift, and you probably have plans, but this is so important for us. You know how difficult it is to get District authorization.” She smile and adds “I’ll give you all my cookies if you do it” Tacitus doesn’t have any plans at all, but he really don’t want to admit to that, so he says he’ll cancel his plans for her, and then decline the cookies she tries to push at him in thanks.

As she gets ready to leave he asks her about her vacation plans. He's never been out of the Capitol; most people haven’t, it takes nearly a year to get all the papers needed and it’s incredibly expensive. On top of that, higher up games officials and party members have first priority and are always cutting the line. For the less important people, doing a district vacation simply isn’t worth the trouble. But Licinia is endlessly fascinated by the districts, that’s why she works at MNPS in the first place. Going out of the Capitol have been her dream since she were a child.

She shows him a glossy brochure with pictures and info about the different Capitol estates. A hologram of a beautiful woman dressed in a traditional district inspired outfit explains what an unique opportunity this is. Licinia nods along in approval at buzzwords like quaint, authentic and minimal living, while Tacitus looks through the brochure. There are three different spa hotels with an accompanying cosmetic surgery center in District 1. It’s all marble, gold, crystals and delicate stained glass. There’s a cute little mountain village with a great view and climbing center in District 2. In Districts 4 there are two beach houses in pastels and a hotel with a water park and a beautiful beach. It must be a wonderful experience to see the ocean. Then there are four notched cabins in 7 with saunas, and a ski resort. And the last one are two large ranches with endless meadows in 10. Licinia and Marcella had put the spa in District 1 and the beach house in 4 on their wish list. Tacitus worries a bit about the security, but she assures him that it is all fenced off and guarded. They won’t even have to see the locals unless they go on the guided bus tour to a nearby village. Both of them have heard Johanna talk about that village in 7. Apparently its build specifically to look inviting and “poverty chic” as Johanna calls it. No one actually lives there, and the people the tourists meet get paid to pretend they do. But that didn’t stop Licinia’s district dream.

  
“My friend Aurelia down at the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda stayed with her family at that incredibly cute ranch in 10.” Licinia informs him. “The avoxes there made them authentic traditional District food. Like all these different kinds of meat roasted over open flame, and barbeque sauces and baked beans and fresh local vegetables that grows in the garden. Its primitive, but it sounds wonderful. And the kids got to live like district kids, ride horses and they even milked cows with their own hands! I didn’t even know you could do that! Did you know you could do that?” she is getting really excited now, already halfway out the door of the ministry in her mind. “No, to be honest, where milk comes from is something I’ve never really given much thought until now.” Tacitus admits.“Well now you know! I’ll take lots of pictures. Even if the village is fake, that’s just for our security and it’s as close as we’ll get. And if it’s a little too picturesque and a little too clean, then I’m not going to complain about it. Who wants to see real poverty anyway. I mean really, it’s just undignified.” She's so caught up in the idée of this vacation that she doesn’t realizes she’s late before Tacitus points it out. She practically runs out of the office after she’s checked that her silk summercoat is buttoned correctly. Her long silver nails are always getting caught in her buttons.

* * *

Tacitus gets ready for his double shift by ordering some alert and vigilance pills and making sure the coffee maker is working. The office is pretty dark. The only light source is the monitors and his tablet casting the place in a cold electric shine. No personal decorations are allowed so normally Licinia’s hair is the only real color. Now that she's gone it looks a little empty. He loves his office, it gives him purpose and a chance to prove himself. He loves watching the stories on screen unfold. But sometimes it feels like he's forever stuck here. The lives of others are the only life he's got. He feels guilty the second the thought popped into his head. He looks over his shoulder like he's afraid someone might have been watching, hearing his every thought.

He adjusts his monitors so he can see both his stream of the Hunger Games and the stream from the 7 apartments at all times. The games are pretty exiting this year, but watching them alone is really not the same. As a child he and his friends would have viewing parties that lasted days. He’s not sure how it is in the Districts, but here in the Capitol the kids get off from school when the games are down to the final 8. His best friend had a huge townhouse and they would have sleepovers in the living room, the parents were always out at parties so it was just them and the avoxes.  
He got his first girlfriend at one of those. They had moved the TVs out on the roof garden and spend the day in the pool. All the flowers were blooming so they had to fish out flower petals from the water. He remembers the taste of mangoberry dipped in chocolate. How it melted in his mouth and got his fingers sticky.

He remembers viewing the kills through the water flowing from the artificial waterfall. They watched as the sun went down and they could see the whole city glimmering. One of the neighboring penthouses fired up fireworks and the whole sky was colored in gold and pink. That night, one of the girls, Lucretia, got upset after her favorite tribute was bludgeoned to death with a morning star in a particularly gruesome way. Tacitus comforted her. That was how he got his first kiss.

After a few hours of Tacitus just watching the games monitor, Johanna finally gets up and starts messing around in the kitchen and he focuses on the 7 apartments again. She orders a gross looking mutton stew with cabbage for breakfast and sits down next to Blight to eat.They start arguing about the TV, Blight wants to watch the Games, Johanna don’t. That’s how it usually goes. Blight has a tendency to get a little too obsessed with getting his tribute out alive, and now that his Tributes are dead he’s helping Chaff with deep dedication. Johanna on the other hand prefers to ignore the games coverage entirely. As usual she wins; she’s probably never lost a fight in her entire life. Blight just silently resigns while Johanna gets comfortable with a new episode of “Baby’s first makeover” and her unappetizing greyish stew. She use her spoon too point and laugh at the women on screen who is crying at the mirror image of herself and her now matching baby. She shoves Blight friendly. "Now, look at this wonderful miracle of life." she says in her worst attempt at a Capitol accent. The victors are really not as good at that as they think they are. "This mother, who seriously should not under any circumstances be allowed to have kids, now have a baby that matches her grotesque plastic mug. Now no-one will assume that she is the baby's aunt anymore, they'll look at their equally dumb looking faces and just know that she is the woman responsible for that hell spawn."

  
This is obviously one of Johannas good days. She's sarcastic and mean but at least she tries to be nice to Blight. Though, her rare optimism will probably wear of through the day. Tacitus starts going through his mail on the tablet. Johannas awkward attempts to cheer up Blight through offensive commentary are not something he needs to pay close attention to.

* * *

His sister has sent him another long letter detailing the progression of her pregnancy. Tacitus opens it with dread, he knows his sister would call if something happened but he's still a bit nervous. This means so much to her and her husband, and they've never done this before.

But it's just the usual complaints. Her husband wanted an surrogate avox with a complexion to match the walls of their unborn child's bedroom. But they planned the room with a peacock theme and after the District one peacock farm scandal peacocks are really unfashionable, and of course the surrovox now clashes with the new bedroom. Her husband Cicero wants to dye the skin of the surrovox, but finding something that's not dangerous for the child is hard. All this is stressing them out. "Please come visit us this weekend" she writes. "Cicero needs something other than this sad style mistake to focus on. Maybe you could take him to see a mutt race? We could have dinner at this new oyster place two streets down from us after." Tacitus doesn’t exactly have a burning desire to see his sister and her annoying husband. He loves her but all this talk of babies just brings attention to his own embarrassing situation; in a few months time when his sister will be getting her first diploma for her efforts to repopulate the earth, Tacitus will be old enough to start paying the childless tax. He watches Johanna’s attempts to get Blight interested in Panems next top wig artisan while trying to think of an excuse. Thankfully Effie Trinket chose this moment to make an entrance, and he forgets his sister for a while.

Effie looks great. The odds are in District 12's favor for the first time since she started working as an escort and it has obviously been good for her. She is dressed in a orange and red outfit that fits perfectly with the new fire trend that originated from her female tribute. She waits patiently for Johanna and Blight to do the polite thing and invite her to sit. Or just in any way acknowledge her pressens. But nothing happens, so she ends up just standing awkwardly in the doorway while Blight writes something in his notepad completely oblivious. Johanna watches district one victor Ruby, this weeks celebrity guest judge, critic a glass wig. But Effie graduated from The Hunger Games Academy's Faculty of Cultural Exchange top of her class so she knows how to deal with other people's lack of manners. She just starts talking like she has a audience that hangs on to her every word.

  
"As a representative of District twelve," She looks at Johanna and Blight in turn and smiles and nods. They stare back blankly. "I invite District Seven to the “District Twelve Star Crossed Lovers Brunch and Fundraising” this afternoon. I know it is a very short notice but it would mean a lot to both Haymitch and me if you could find a spot in your busy schedule to attend this prestigious event. We are both sure it will be one of the most important events of the 74th Hunger Games. We are hoping that as many victors without tributes of their own as possible will be able to attend and show their support of Katniss and Peeta as the most likely and most worthy winners of this year's games." she takes out her tablet with a swift but graceful movement ready to register their answers.

Tacitus has seen this many a time before. Johanna loathes all Games personnel and she loves to make them feel uncomfortable. She'll drag this out to see how frustrated Effie can get. He wonders if he should make a report on this. All acts of defiance and disrespect directed at Games personnel is to be reported, but with Johanna you'll have to make certain choices or you'll just end up flooding the system.

Johanna stares at Effie in a way that obviously makes her deeply uncomfortable. But not willing to back down, Effie stares back. Blight tries to keep his face diplomatically neutral, but seems to be struggling. After a minute of awkward silence she seems to decide that she's had enough and ends the silent battle with a deep breath. "Miss Mason, can we count on your participation?". "To be quite honest: I would rather gouge my own eyes out with my spoon." Johanna says. The way she's looking at Effie, Tacitus gets the feeling she'd preferred Effie’s eyes over her own. Effie seems to feel the same way. She gives Johanna a curt but polished smile, like nothing had happened and turns to Blight. "Mister Larson. Shall I put your name on the guest list?" he's coughing a little to force down his laughter and arranging his face in a serious expression. It is the most feelings he's seen Blight express in a long time. Nothing's like bonding through disrespecting The Games institution, Tacitus thinks with annoyance. "Sorry, I already promised Chaff and Seeder I'll help'em. It would look sort of weird if I showed up. Unfocused marketing and all that.”

Effie sighs and puts away her tablet. "Well, that is obviously the right decision from a PR perspective, Mister Larson. Haymitch will understand that." She is looking at her watch ready to leave when Johanna suddenly has something to say. ”You guys know they both can't win right. It's completely illogical to do a fundraiser for both of them with your track record. That's the sort of shit only career districts can afford. I mean when we are on the topic of unfocused marketing. Who are you gonna choose Effie? Who do you want to die? That girl with her blond little sister? Or that boy with his cute little crush and puppy dog eyes?" Blight is looking a little pale and seems to be withdrawing into himself and out of the conversation. Effie, usually the picture of professionalism has to close her eyes and draw a deep breath before facing Johanna and her cold eyes and condescending smile. "That is absolutely terrible Johanna. It's a completely inappropriate question. Offensive even. You know just as well as I do that I do not wish death on any of the kids. That is just the nature of the game."

  
Tacitus feels like Effie is doing pretty great in this conversation. It's a very uncomfortable subject and she shouldn't have to deal with this sort of disrespect. The games are a necessary evil, like how a forest fire seems destructive and horrifying at first, but in reality it purifies and makes room for new life. Effie tries to explain this to Johanna, but that girl is a completely lost case. If she haven't found some respect for the games during her life as a tribute then she most likely won’t start respecting it now. Johanna is apparently trying to set a new record for wasting other people’s time, because she makes Effie come back inn after she finally exits, interrogate her on the event menu and declares that she wants to go to the fundraiser after all. As she calls up her prep team to prepare for the brunch Tacitus starts filling out a new form to document the subversive nature of Johannas fight with Effie.

Getting Johanna ready takes hours. She complains about her outfit and scuffs at her makeup. Tacitus can understand why. Her stylist, Artemisius, is not as great as he used to be. It is pretty obvious that being a gamemakers brother have kept him in the job a bit longer than strictly necessary. The only redeeming part of that boring outfit and cliché branch crown was her manicure; wood patterns painted in painstakinging detail on her nails, which was filed into long claws. After Johanna and her style entourage leaves, Blight sinks back into the sofa with a audible sigh. "yeah, me too." Tacitus mumbles to himself. Exactly how exhausting Johanna really is with her constant disdain for the Capitol is never clearer than the first moments after she leaves a room and you can let the silence wash over you.

Blight watches the games in silence for a while. At one point he gets up to get a couple of beer bottles and schnapps, he ends up walking a couple of time in a circle mumbling rather than go right back to the couch before snapping out of it and sitting down again.  
Tacitus eats his lunch, get coffee and mostly watches the games.  
Blight has a boring conversation on the phone with the D11 mentor team. Tacitus take the opportunity to write an answer to his sister`s invitation. He declines and uses the busy games season as an excuse.

* * *

After a couple of hours Johanna walks in the door again. She jumps up in the couch next to Blight and starts tearing at her hair ruining the hairstyle her stylist worked so hard on this morning.  
”Was the lunch OK?” asks Blight, never mind that it was a brunch not a lunch. On the TV the screen cuts from the 2 pair to the 12 girl. "That girl annoys me so much! She somehow seems to think she can get through this without playing the game. Or that when she's the one playing the game, she's not as bad as everyone else. No, cuz she's got a nobel reason to survive unlike the rest of them." "Who?" Blight asks confused. "Katniss.” Johanna points to the screen.”She's playing it right now! It so fake. And Haymitch had this long speech on this obscure love story from The Old World before The Downfall. About some stupid "star crossed lovers",” she says that last part like it physical hurts to say the words. "That ended up killing each other just because their plan stright up sucked. I'll give it to Haymitch, he knows how to play a crowd. He was dropping hints the whole time and talking about how this will be a historic victory that will be remembered for generations. The suckers were eating it up. But I do think he has something really good up his sleeve, you should have seen him, didn't touch a drink the whole event! I think he was actually 90% sober. Like he could walk a straight line while winning a debate at the same time, at a Hunger Games event, with an open bar. It was like watching a bear juggle axes." Blights sighs and says “There aint anything wrong with trying Johanna. He's been alone a long time” and that's apparently all he wants to say about that.  
They watch the games in silence for a long time while it gets darker outside. Johanna with her brunch outfit halfway off and Blight in his wrinkled designer lumberjack shirt. Blight gets up and gets another beer from the kitchen.

  
“Johanna, do you want to hear a story?” he asks suddenly. Tacitus expects Johanna to get angry, but she just looks tired. “No one wants to hear your story Blight.” She drags her hand over her face and smudges her makeup. Blight just stands there. Johanna sighs “I was thinking” she’s talking to the ceiling, not looking at Blight. “We have some money left on our budget, with our kids being completely hopeless and all, so I think we could afford some branches of birch for the coffins.” Blight just looks at her with panic written all over his face, before taking his coat and walking out of the apartment with his beer bottle quickly stuffed in his pocket.“Oh for fuck sake!” Johanna screams after him. “Just go drink yourself to death while I’m left with the responsibilities, why am I the only one living in reality here?” She flops back on the couch, throws back the leftover schnaps from Blight and makes the call to make arrangements with the games morgue.  
Then she takes a nap while avoxes shuffle quietly around the apartment, cleaning and setting out fresh flowers and evening snacks. Outside the sun is setting, neon lights draw strange patterns on the stone floors. The furniture casts long dark shadows.

Tacitus eat some dull premade chicken curry dinner brought up by the department avoxes and are wondering about ordering some sweets when Johanna is woken up by another guest barging in: Finnick Odair from 4 flops right down next to Johanna so she almost bounces of the couch. “Finny boy! Are you done for the day already?”.  
Tacitus is not as enthusiastic as Johanna, he's tired and was hoping for a quiet night with minimal work, that's probably off the table now. As usual the 4 winner is wearing a ridiculous skimpy outfit that should make johanna appreciate her own stylist a bit more, but it won't.

  
“I was on a date all day, and then a viewing party. But then the gamemakers announced that there will be this big twist this evening so now everyone is just gawking at the games and my evening appointment postponed to tomorrow. Can you believe my luck!” No lights are on in the apartment, but with all the lights from the windows it's still easy to see Finnicks strange not all there smile.  
They smalltalk for awhile, Finnick puts on the games (Johanna don't fight him on it), and he starts making knots and braids on the fringe of the blanket covering Johanna.  
Johanna complains about Blight, the brunch, speculates about the twist and Haymitch`s strategy and Finnick tells her of how his date asked him to choose a dress for her and he picked one he knew was identical to the one Cashmere was going to wear. They both find that hilarious and Tacitus makes a note of it in his papers. It's one thing to be pushing boundaries in the center, thats its own little world, but to involve a innocent upstanding Capitolit in it; that won't do. Just as he`s finishing the paperwork Claudius Templesmith announces that there will be two victors walking out of this years games.

Finnick sits up in the couch in shock and Johanna actually stands up and walks over to the tv “Are you seeing this! Fucking Haymitch, how did he even do that!” Johannas getting aggravated "that won't last though, no way "."I'm not so sure." Finnick says "Maybe this is it. Maybe they'll actually do it."Johanna leans over and pinches his cheek "oh, you`re so cute and naive. You always thinks that this is the year. It's like you actually trust them."  
"I do though. I do trust them." She looks like she might throw up at that. Finnick seems to sense that she's about to go on a rant and quickly tries to explain himself. "I just mean that I trust them to always follow the rules. They can't go back on something like that, consistency is key."  
Johanna seems to mull it over “Yeah no, if they change the rules, then suddenly things aren't set in stone any more. They'll have to take it back." She smiles now like the thought gives her joy. "Actually; that cunt Seneca is fucked either way."

  
Tacitus doesn't know what he should think. The Crane family have a long history with the games, Seneca Crane knows the traditions and procedures, surely he has cleared this with the appropriate officials first. Yes, this is not something someone from the districts would understand, it is unusual, but it will work out. Outside the sky explodes in fireworks, there are obviously many happy parties right now with both 12 and 2 supporters celebrating. The victors on his screen watch the fireworks in silence.

Finnick is the first to break the silence. “She took me to the aquarium.” he says out of the blue. “ They had dolphins in a tank and made them do stupid tricks. They were dyed in different colors. It's sad, they’re not supposed to be like that. She probably thought I would like it. It’s so strange, when they try to be nice. I can never really decide if it worse when they try, or when they don’t.” He's trailing his fingers up and down Johannas bare arm. It doesn’t seem like he's aware he's doing it.

  
The ungrateful attitude most of the victors have is so grating to Tacitus. Yes he knows they sometimes are mistreated. Every year some victor ends up at the Games hospital on the second floor (over the Games morgue) after an overdose, or a suicide attempt or some self harm gone wrong. They even do the occasional rehab when someone takes it too far with their addictions and disorders. Most of them are strange, uneducated and damaged, but that's natural. They come from brutal backwards places and they have admittedly done horrible things, normal people would never do the thing they do. But they have opportunities that their district peers could never even dream of. Life in the districts are hard and short, compared to the Capitol it's no life at all. They even have more opportunities to go to exclusive parties, premiers and to socializing with the Capitol elite than the average Capitol citizen. They have stylists, free designer clothes, sponsorship deals, countless fans, and spend most of the year just hanging around in their luxury homes doing whatever they likes. Other people have to work, and most will still never be able to afford a victor lifestyle. They should really just go dry their tears with their money as far as Tacitus is concerned. Without the games Johanna would still spend her days running behind the lumber trucks collecting falling kindling so her little sister wouldn't freeze to death during the night. They have all these amazing opportunities, and they all waste them away because they can't get over some minor inconveniences.

  
There's a little knock on the door frame of Tacitus office to pull him out of his thoughts. A guy sticks his head in, his hair seams white, but on a closer look he can see that it's actually a light green tone. His eyes are golden with eyelashes ending in clear drops like he's been out in the rain. He can't remember seeing him around before.

  
"Hi", he holds out his hand. Tacitus takes his headphones half way of and stands up to shake his hand. "Gaius Stone, D11" his smile is lightly dusted in gold and light up his eyes.  
Tacitus makes sure his handshake is firm and confident against his soft hand. "Tacitus Lynch" he says "D07". He feels his blush almost immediately. Of course he knows he's in D07 he's standing next to the sign that says so. Gaius continues like he didn't notice his misstep. "I sincerely hope I didn’t disturb you. I'm new, I just started this season.” he explains.”My partner told me you know the rulebook like your own closet and that I should check with you when i'm unsure. And I have a little question. Do you have the time?" Tacitus should really pay attention to the screen, but this isn't some social visit, its work, and it's been a very long day, he's tired and for some reason he doesn't want to say no to Gaius. So he says come in and lets Gaius sit on the extra chair next to him.  
“You see” Gaius starts “I'm filling in for Scipio Moore, I'm not sure if you heard but the Team came to get him” he says this while carefully avoiding eye contact. He doesn't need to say more. Bad thoughts leads to bad speech leads to bad deeds. Somewhere in the Capitol there's a new avox.“And since he had to leave in a bit of a hurry I have to go over some stuff and I am just not sure about what code to use on this file?” He brings up a rapport on his tablet and shows it to Tacitus. “Its from a while back, Seeder and Chaff got a sponsorship gift from the citizens of their district and had a bread made and sent to the 12 girl. It's never been done before so it's not explicitly illegal but its not right either, and I should not be telling you this” he lower his voice conspiratorially “but there may have been some minor trouble with 11 this year so it's important to do this right.”

  
Tacitus looks at the paperwork and he and Gaius debate the right classification for a little while until they agree on what's right. He hands back the tablet and their fingers touch. A smile flutters over Gaius` face. If they had been paying attention to the screen they might have noticed Finnick quikly tucking a small balled up paper note into Johannas hand under the blanket. Or maybe not.  
“Thank you so much for the help” Gaius says. Tacitus don't want him to think it was a bother “It's a lot of different procedures compared to a normal surveillance assignment.Please just ask again if you need more advice”.  
“Actually” Tacitus adds “do you have Vigilance pills? They are a huge help.” Gaius doesn't, he's not a veteran at this like Tacitus. So Tacitus gives him his pills. He's made it through many times without the pills, Gaius needs them more than him.

  
When Gaius leaves he feels almost upbeat. He didn't really need those pills anyway. He lets his thoughts drift a little. What would it be like to have someone in the office. Someone to talk to, someone to be close to. Someone to come home to. No, he should not let his imagination run wild like that. Imagining and fantasy is not healthy, you should be grateful for what you got and not let your imagination lead you astray. Especially at work. That is the kind of thing that can ruin you and lead to an end like Scipios.  
His eyelids feel a bit heavy. Maybe he shouldn't have given his pills away.

* * *

There's a knock on the door of the 7 apartments. Tacitus tries his best to shake the intrusive thoughts out of his head and focus on the screen.  
Finnick gets up “I’ll get it, I should get going anyway, with the new twist it will probably be a lot of interviews and last minute events tomorrow.” Finnick grabs a few small chocolates shaped like tree trunks from a bowl on the way to the door. He opens it to find Cashmere standing in the doorway. He immediately blocks her from entering in a smooth move that's obviously well practiced but still ends up looking casual.  
“Hey Cash,” says Finnick “sorry about the dress, no hard feelings right.” He bites of the top of one of his chocolates, and starts licking out the caramel filling.  
Cashmere doesn’t exactly seem surprised to see him, she only rolls her eyes and purs “Strange how I showed up in the same dress as fucking Atia Evans and still managed to look classier than you.” Finnicks offended look is slightly ruined by the caramel on his teeth and Johanna starts laughing from the sofa. “What!" he says “you mean gold fish shell tights aren’t classy? The sad truth is that no matter how trashy I look I'll always be the hottest person in the room and you know it." Cashmere narrowed her eyes at him. "You keep telling yourself that" she tells him with a look that would send chills down a normal person's spine. Finnick looks like he didn't even notice and skips out the door.

  
Turning towards Johanna in the sofa Cashmere says “I don’t know how you deal with that child without strangling him.” She sits down next to Johanna like she’s invited. “Yeah well, it’s not like you guys are lining up to be my friends. And as careers goes; he could be worse.” Tacitus knows that Johanna and Cashmere don’t really get along. They don’t hate each other, but they don’t usually hang out. As far as he knows, which admittedly isn’t much when it comes to the other districts since almost all information is classified, Cashmere and Gloss keeps most to themselves. And a few days ago Johanna complained to Blight (who didn’t even bother to pretend he was listening) that Cashmere was trying too hard to hold on to her dignity. Johanna told him that Cashmeres illusion of dignity and mutual respect was stopping her from completely hating the Capitol. How hating the Capitol would somehow make Cashmere a happier or better person, Tacitus has no idea. As far as he's concerned Johanna is just a bitter person. He has a suspicion she’s jealous of the more popular victors.

“So” Cashmere drawls ”what do you think about this twist? Its potentially... Interesting? Isn't it?” Johanna narrows her eyes and finally truly looks at Cashmere.”It might be. Not that it matters to you Ones. Your girl was out before all the fun and that boy was never a victor.”

“That might have been for the best” Cashmere whispers. Then with a quick look up at the corner of the roof she quickly adds “This makes for a more exciting storyline I mean.” Johanna laughs at that. “Yes, it could potentially get very exciting for all of us I think.”  
She mulls it over “If you like this storyline I think you should talk to Haymitch, contrary to popular belief his talent is bird watching, not boozing. He is actually very involved when he wants to" Silence fills the airwaves while Cashmere unknots all the knots Finnick left in the blanket.

“Does your brother agree with you?” Johanna asks uncharacteristically serious. “Gloss doesn't know that I'm here. We had a fight.” She takes one deep breath before she almost whispers "it's hard, fighting with your brother like that. It's just a silly fight. I love my brother, and I love Panem. But he loves the Capitol."

  
If Tacitus was awake he probably would have wondered what the difference between the two is, Panem is the Capitol and the Capitol is Panem. But he is not. He is slumped in his chair, his eyes closed. When he wakes up he will panic. With his heart in his throat he will click through the footage of the 30 minutes he missed and not see anything more than two victors talking a bit before one leaves for her apartments. And he will try to breathe calmly and not think of Scipio.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really intrigued about the perspective of capitol citizens. I wrote this story a million years ago, but now with Ballad I suddenly remembered and finished it. I wanted to try and see thing from the eyes of someone who just does his job and don't really thinks outside the box or doubts the official story. I also imagined that living in that kind of society you have to be very lonely and alienated by design. That everyone feel that way but think they are alone and are unable to reach out because they are not supposed to think critically or be uncomfortable. I have also wondered about how the resistance was able to pull of the stuff they did in a high tech dictatorship like Panem. I sort of concluded that there have to be human errors involved. I also imagine that Snow and the Capitol must have been so paranoid at that point that the people doing the surveillance must have been keep in the dark to some degree as well and not necessarily understand what they were seeing or even what resistance would even look like.


End file.
